Partnerships are often talked about as though they’re simply another sales channel. In my experience, that’s one of the biggest reasons they fail. A partnership isn’t a deal you sign, a LinkedIn announcement you post, or a referral agreement you file away. It’s a commercial growth engine that needs the same level of structure, accountability, and discipline as any other part of the business.
Watch the whole recording here.
I’ve spent the better part of the last decade building partnerships, and I can honestly say I’ve learned just as much from the ones that failed as I have from the ones that succeeded. Early in my career I walked into plenty of meetings full of optimism, negotiated agreements for weeks, celebrated the signatures, and expected opportunities to magically appear. Instead, the excitement faded, communication slowed, and the partnership quietly disappeared. That experience taught me something I still remind myself today. A handshake is the beginning of the work, not the end of it.
One of the biggest reasons I believe partnerships deserve more attention is because of the leverage they create. During my time building the partnerships function at pay.com.au, our team was incredibly small, yet we consistently generated revenue that outperformed a much larger sales team. That wasn’t because we worked harder. It was because the right partnerships give you distribution at scale. Instead of having one person sell to one customer at a time, you’re working with organisations that already have trusted relationships with the customers you want to reach.
That also creates something even more valuable than immediate revenue. Great partnerships compound over time. Every successful relationship opens doors to new conversations, new products and entirely new opportunities that may never have existed otherwise.
One example that stands out was when our customers started asking for international payment capabilities. At the time, our business was focused on domestic payments, so building our own foreign exchange solution wasn’t a priority. Rather than trying to solve everything ourselves, we partnered with a specialist provider that was already doing it exceptionally well. That single partnership unlocked an entirely new revenue stream for us and gave customers a better experience almost overnight. As that relationship proved successful, more providers approached us, and eventually we built our own foreign exchange capability based on everything we had learned. Without that initial partnership, we probably wouldn’t have discovered the opportunity as quickly.
Experiences like that changed the way I think about partnerships. I stopped looking at them as individual deals and started viewing them as a structured lifecycle.
Before I ever approach a potential partner, I spend time identifying exactly who my ideal customer is and where those customers already spend their time. Once I know that, it becomes much easier to identify businesses that naturally complement what we’re trying to achieve.
That sounds obvious, but it’s surprising how often businesses chase impressive logos instead of relevant ones. A partner with access to thousands of people isn’t valuable if none of those people are actually your customers. I’d much rather work with a smaller organisation whose audience perfectly matches our ideal customer profile than chase a household name that looks impressive but delivers very little.
After identifying potential partners, qualification becomes everything. One framework I rely on heavily is MEDDPICC because it forces me to slow down and ask better questions before investing months into a relationship.
I’m looking at the commercial opportunity, who actually makes the decisions, what matters most to the other business, what problem we’re solving, whether someone inside the organisation is willing to champion the partnership, and whether they’re already considering other solutions. Instead of relying on gut feel, I score each opportunity so I can compare them objectively.
This process has saved me countless hours. Partnerships that look exciting on paper don’t always survive when you start asking the right questions. That’s far better than discovering six months later that nobody internally was ever committed to making the relationship succeed.
Once a partnership passes that stage, structure becomes the difference between momentum and stagnation.
I like working within a ninety day framework. The first month is dedicated to discovery and qualification. The second focuses on commercial terms, governance and securing executive buy in. The final month is all about launch, measuring performance and making sure both organisations are delivering on what was promised.
Having that timeline creates urgency. Without it, partnerships can drift for months while everyone assumes somebody else is driving the process.
Measurement is equally important. Partnerships don’t run themselves once they’re live. They need clear metrics, regular conversations and accountability on both sides. Whether it’s partner sign ups, activation rates, transaction volumes or revenue targets, every partnership should have agreed measures of success from day one.
Just as importantly, those conversations shouldn’t only happen when something goes wrong. Weekly check ins early in the relationship help remove roadblocks quickly. As trust builds and performance stabilises, those meetings naturally become monthly and then quarterly strategic reviews. That’s where the real value starts to emerge because both organisations begin looking beyond today’s activity and towards future opportunities.
I’ve also learned that successful partnerships rarely stay confined to the original agreement. Co-branded campaigns, product integrations and joint customer initiatives often become the biggest sources of growth. Some of our strongest product ideas only existed because partnerships exposed customer needs we hadn’t previously recognised.
Of course, not every partnership succeeds, and I think this is where many businesses struggle.
Ending a partnership often feels uncomfortable, so people avoid the conversation. Instead, they keep investing time, resources and attention into relationships that simply aren’t working.
I’ve learned that’s usually the most expensive decision you can make.
If performance consistently falls short, priorities no longer align, your internal champion leaves, or the partnership starts creating reputational risk, it’s important to be honest. Sometimes the most professional thing you can do is acknowledge that the relationship hasn’t achieved what both parties intended and move on respectfully.
That decision doesn’t just protect your business. It creates space to invest in partnerships that have genuine potential.
If there’s one lesson I’d leave you with, it’s that partnerships aren’t built on optimism alone. They’re built on trust, process and consistency. Relationships absolutely matter, but relationships without structure eventually lose momentum. Structure without trust rarely gets off the ground. You need both.
The businesses that build partnerships well aren’t simply collecting logos or signing agreements. They’re creating repeatable systems that help them identify the right opportunities, invest in the right relationships and know when it’s time to walk away from the wrong ones.
If this has made you think differently about the way your business approaches partnerships, I’d love to continue the conversation. Whether you’re building your first partner program or looking to improve one you already have, I hope these ideas give you a practical framework to start with. I look forward to seeing you at a future Masterclass or continuing the conversation over a coffee.